The first bill of the new 107th Congress to address tax relief was H.R. 3, introduced on February 28, 2001. That was 51 days ago, as of the time of this article. Then on March 9th H.R. 3 was sent to the Senate Committee and will probably die there or be seriously revised.

Let’s see, that would mean that our new House of Representatives has introduced 1, 536 (ONE THOUSAND, FIVE HUNDRED AND THIRTY SIX) new bills since the first tax cut bill. Isn’t that nice? Can’t you just feel them rushing to bring you tax relief? Making a reality of your company cutting you a larger paycheck the minute the new law is passed.

Doing even better per representative, the U.S. Senate has introduced 755 new bills bringing the total in the new 107th Congress to 2,294 (TWO THOUSAND, TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY FOUR) new bills or proposed new laws.

Do you really believe that our country requires this much new legislation? Do you really believe that our elected representatives in Congress are dealing with the major problems of the country? How many of the 2,294 new bills will get to a vote? How many will become law?

The 107th Congress has been in session approximately 40 days before taking its Spring recess. If the 1,539 new House bills were spread evenly across those days it would mean that our representatives received about 38 new bills per day. Each Senator would be getting about 19 a day. How many do you suppose your representatives have read and are prepared to vote on?

And don’t forget that when the House of Representatives is in session there’s hardly a day when a quorum is present in chambers. Almost all votes are taken “by electronic means” from wherever the representatives happen to be at the time, and despite what any of them might have said about “machine voting” and the greater accuracy of hand counting last November and December. We only assume that they listened to the speeches delivered on the House floor or had a chance to read the Congressional Record before voting.

No doubt, many of them will tell you that they have a staff to do much of this for them. Do you remember electing any of their staff to represent you? Do you even know who their staff members are? Occasionally, you get a glimpse of some of them in the background at committee meetings.

After dampening our Christmas spirit with two months of twenty-four hour non-stop reporting on chads and the Presidential elections, our economic geniuses are worried about “consumer confidence.” And it’s the new 107th Congress that will consider budgeting additional billions on a “star wars” shield to protect the nation from incoming air attacks while, at the same time, not being able to provide that same nation with heat, electricity, and natural gas for homes and entire cities. All while we pay through the nose for what’s available to heat, air condition, refrigerate, or even watch television and keep on a night light. And don’t forget the $3.00 per gallon gas prices expected this summer. Gee, I wonder where consumer confidence could have possibly gone.

And the propaganda tells us that about half of the people in this great nation don’t even want a tax cut. Of course, the spinsters don’t mention that the question is usually asked in terms of what’s best, getting out of debt or getting a tax break? Pay me now, or pay me later, or do you want to leave it to your kids?

Everyone knows that promising tax relief is only important during elections. So isn’t it just a natural leap to assume that this might be another fantasy existing only in the minds of those seeking office. Real Americans just love paying taxes, right? We’d rather put our money in the hands of people that know what to do with it before we run off and spend it on something foolish like gas or a vacation. And there’s certainly no waste in government, is there?